The Silent Treatment
by Fallen Pens
Summary: Lincoln begins to go completely quiet and his sisters take notice, upon realizing it they begin to wonder if they are the reason he has grown silent? Is it the girls fault? Or is there something else that they're missing?


**Authors note: Hey all, I just wanted to say I'm doing a few one-shots before the next story. Mainly to act as a sort of recovery/mini vacation as well as more time to plan things out. Hope I do good. Sorry if this is bad. I have a poll going on with my profile that will be closed by the 20th. Please cast your vote. This is Fallen Pens, dropping out.**

* * *

The Loud house was probably the most chaotic home in the whole city of Royal Woods, but it was also the most balanced. The eleven siblings countered and supported each other like a weird game of three dimensional chess.

"Thank you again for letting me run this test on you again," Lisa spoke through her heavy lisp, "I'm curious if it'll actually affect your height…"

Sitting on her fold out examination table was her preteen brother, Lincoln, the peacekeeper for his family. Or at least the attempted peacekeeper, lately he had been more and more doubtful that he made a difference.

"Err… I suppose trying to strike up conversation with someone who isn't supposed to talk during the examination is quite a rude thing to do. My deepest apologies for that," Lisa spoke further. She knew she unintentionally acted rude when eager for her research, or when distracted she ignored a lot of things. A small thin bar dispensing a green light scanned over her only brother as he laid still, not allowed to move a muscle.

Lincoln only agreed due to it seemingly being harmless enough. Trying to catch potential growth spurts and look for signs of them happening sounded easy. He guessed that Lisa was growing curious about how spontaneous growth spurts worked, since he was going to turn thirteen in a few months.

 _"I swear, this gets slower and slower each time we do this,"_ Lincoln mentally pondered. He knew accomplishing this with her would earn him a favor with her. Their parents forbade testing on family members, so it had to all be done secretly. If someone caught them doing this, it was easy enough to lie out of it and claim it was a medical checkup.

"Hm… No abnormalities or noticeable signs… _oh well._ Perhaps next time," Lisa was disappointed at the results on her laptop. She watched as her brother sat up, looking apologetic for not being fascinating enough for her at the moment. He hated being a disappointment by any means, since to him it was another word for failure.

"I know it's going to be lunch soon, but I believe this should still be a good enough reward to show my gratitude," Lisa reached into a small hiding place in the wall, pulling out a lollipop. This was where her Halloween candy was hidden.

"Chocolate with a blueberry inner core. One of your favorite flavors, If I recall," the second youngest Loud sister handed it over. Lincoln shrugged but looked thankful, taking the wrapper off before putting the lollipop in his mouth. It made him feel a little better.

"Lincoln, honey! Can you come help me, please?" they heard their mother call from downstairs. He gave Lisa a small wave before he took leave from the younger kids' room.

* * *

Lincoln went straight downstairs to the kitchen past the living room, the bright sunshine outside illuminating most of the home through the windows. He was more pleased with the simple weather.

"Hey honey. Sorry to call you down here, but I'm having a problem with making lunch…" the Loud family mother, Rita, apologized. Lincoln came over to her side, he saw bread and various other condiments or ingredients lying around all over the counter.

Lincoln kept sucking on the lollipop, tilting his head in confusion, wondering what exactly she was trying to make.

"You see, I wanted to make everyone sandwiches with their favorite things on them as a surprise, but I can't remember them all… you know your sisters very well, and you have a better memory than this old maid. Do you mind helping me out?" Rita explained her request. She would be asking her husband for help if he was competent in the kitchen, but he was such a bad cook that the rest of their family would gladly do anything to avoid his food, sabotage included.

Lincoln nodded, giving his mom a thumbs up. Even if she didn't ask for his aid, he would opt to help anyway. He imagined it was impossible for her alone to recall the simple stuff due to how many of them there were, he doubted she could remember who even wanted the crust on their sandwich and who did not.

"Oh, thank you, sweetie! I'll make sure you get extra on your sandwich," Rita hugged him gently. Letting him keep that lollipop and spoil his lunch seemed a more worthwhile way of gratitude than offering him more for lunch. Lincoln began to help with his mother, beginning to get to work on preparing lunch.

"Hey, mom. Hey Little bro," they heard the voice of his older sister, Luna, who came into the kitchen in her usual purple rock attire. The aspiring rock star looked pretty happy for the late morning.

"Hey, Luna. How's your new song coming along?" Rita greeted her. Luna was loved by the entire younger half of their family since she helped raise them the most. Lincoln gave a small wave, taking the now finished lollipop stick out of his mouth and tossing it into the nearby trash can.

"It was going well, but it fell off halfway. I figured getting something in my stomach would help me think better," Luna responded. The kitchen had two tables in it, one for the younger half of the family and another for the older half. However, the kitchen was only really used for breakfast and dinner. Everyone usually just took their lunches to go back to their personal tasks since it usually was small food unless it was a special occasion.

Lincoln felt bad for her. He wished he could help right now. But coming up with song lyrics was not his specialty. He slid a plate down the counter for the rock lover to catch.

"Can't ever go wrong with some PB&J. Thanks a lot, little dude," Luna happily took her sandwich. Lincoln smiled as she messed up his hair before going off back upstairs. The musical Loud had a feeling that something was weird about him, but she could not place her finger on it. She assumed it was just her mental block messing with her.

"Is it lunchtime already?" they heard Leni's lighter voice chirp at the back door to the kitchen, where she stood, fixing the white sunglasses on top of her head.

"Yes, Leni. Did you finish cutting the grass?" Rita questioned. Leni nodded. Unlike most of her family, she had a bit of an issue with her IQ. It resulted in most tasks being hindered since her family usually had to specify how to handle the chores in case she got confused and slipped up.

"Sorry, but I can't get out some of the weeds. My hands aren't strong enough to keep a grip," Leni took a seat at the table, seeing a plate rested before her. Lincoln tapped her shoulder, making her look to him.

"Hm? What is it Lincy?" Leni asked, looking her food over. She was happy to see tomato and strawberry slices on her sandwich. Lincoln pointed a thumb outside where the weeds running under the fence was seen by their naked eyes. "You'll help me with the weed pulling? Really?"

Lincoln nodded. If they chopped the weeds up, they would only wind up making more of them. Their father learned this the hard way, that was pretty much the only reason they had to deal with the weed issue at all. He was suddenly pulled into a tight hug by her, crushing the back of his neck.

"Aww! Thank you, Lincy! You're the best! I'll come find you once I finish eating," Leni exclaimed her gratitude. He had a bright bucktoothed smile, glad to be able to help her. The two watched her leave with her food.

"You're being awfully helpful today, Lincoln. I know you did your chores yesterday too. Are you trying to get more allowance?" Rita asked. Her son stepped beside her to continue preparing the other sandwiches, he shook his head in denial. He had only did all the dusting and vacuuming yesterday as his chore a day early, mainly out of boredom.

"Heh… trying to be strong and silent? Your dad thought that was a cool thing to do when we were young… He couldn't last twenty minutes without speaking," the Loud mother laughed at the memories. Lincoln was not trying to be silent on his own accord. He was not trying to be stronger or look cool. He just had no choice. His mother continued to reminisce on memories while he focused on preparing the food for the rest of the family.

* * *

Upstairs in her and Leni's room, the eldest Loud sister, Lori, lay stomach-first on her bed, texting away on her phone to her friends and boyfriend, when she heard a knock on the open door. She looked up and saw Lincoln there, carrying a few plates. He had taken it upon himself to find those who had not come to get their lunch and deliver it to them personally as a sort of surprise.

"What is it, Lincoln?" Lori unenthusiastically greeted him. She hated it when her personal time was disturbed, though he knew her mood was bad already due to yet another fight with Leni this morning.

The middle Loud boy rested the plate in front of her with a sandwich cut in half, the way she usually liked them to be. They had lettuce and turkey on them. Lori flashed a smile at the sight of the food and rested her phone aside.

"Thanks, Lincoln. You should've just called me down to get it," Lori happily took a bite out of her food. Lincoln rubbed his head a little and shrugged. He had to come upstairs anyway, and like every other opportunity to speak, screaming for each individual person was not in his vocal range currently.

" _Hello?_ Are you ignoring me?" The oldest Loud sibling asked after swallowing, confused at the lack of replies. Lincoln waved his hand defensively, looking apologetic for his silence. He hoped she enjoyed the meal at least. He left with the rest of the plates of sandwiches balanced in his one arm to deliver them to the rest of their siblings.

 _"…did I do something to him?"_ Lori pondered to herself, wondering why he did not speak a word. Although she was worried, she tried not to dwell on it. She knew how hostile she tended to be to everyone who came into her and Leni's room without permission.

"He's probably not in a good mood… oh well," Lori resumed eating, thinking he would be better later. She would ask someone else about him if they paid a visit to her and had a clue about what was happening with their only brother.

* * *

In the younger kids' room, Lisa resided, sitting across from her older sister Lola at a small table where a tea party was currently being held. The beauty-obsessed Loud was so gleeful when she got the child prodigy for the first time in a long time, agree to a tea party, even if all she did was read her research documents. Lisa had also agreed because tea sounded like a nice thing to enjoy.

"Hm? What's this?" Lisa asked, seeing their only brother come to the small table and rest two plates down around the teacups for them.

"Finger food! Wow, it's like you read my mind, Lincoln!" Lola clapped in glee, seeing her sandwich cut into four small pieces to make it look fancy, even if all it had on it was baloney and turkey, though each sandwich had a toothpick holding it together for her.

"A standard grape jelly and strawberry sandwich…! Thank you, my older similarly genetic sibling," Lisa thanked him. Lincoln smiled, letting them enjoy their tea party lunch after motioning them to relax, but before he could leave, he felt his hand get grabbed by a glove covered arm.

" _Wait!_ Lincoln, please play with us! It'd be nice to have a prince here," Lola pleaded, putting on her bright grin and pleading eyes. Lincoln usually played tea party with her, as the butler or the prince, or sometimes the king on even rarer occasions. It seemed completely random really.

Lincoln looked apologetic as he motioned his head to the other plates in his hand. He still had to make a few more deliveries. He rubbed the young girls head reassuring her that he would play some other time. With that done he left the younger children's room.

Lola returned to her seat. Disappointment was drawn all over the beauty pageant lover's face. _"He didn't even say anything…"_

"I wouldn't dwell much on the matter. He probably just wanted to focus on his task at hand," Lisa responded, though their brother had been like this all morning. She thought back on it, and realized that they had not heard a single word from him since last night even.

"I guess he's annoyed with me..." Lola murmured. She felt that begging him to play and sometimes rarely crying when she didn't get her way may have made an impression on him not to play with her again.

"Don't think too much on it. I probably exhausted him with the examination again," Lisa adjusted her glasses before beginning to eat her food. Lola did as ordered, deciding to focus on her food as well. She still could not help but feel immensely worried now, and Lisa was similarly curious.

* * *

In one of the other upstairs shared rooms, Lynn, mostly dressed in her jersey, shorts and socks, was throwing a soft ball at a small pillow, it would bounce off the pillow and let her catch it again. For the last hour she had done this on repeat.

"Man… I wish I could play outside, but playing alone sucks," Lynn sighed. With school out for a week, she was left in an odd position of boredom since none of her few friends did not want to spend their vacations getting sore limbs or possible dislocated body parts, they tended to distance themselves from her as result.

The sound of knocking on the half-open door stole her attention. The knocking opened the door the rest of the way, revealing her two years younger brother.

"You didn't have to knock if the door was open," Lynn lightly laughed, finding it kind of silly. Lincoln shrugged. The times when he did not knock never went well. He had one particular awkward walk in with Luan, still fresh in his memory.

Lincoln presented Lynn's sandwich to her, letting her take the plate. The two breads held nothing but meat between them. He then reached into his back pocket and pulled out a canned chocolate flavored energy drink. Lynn's eyes lit up like she had seen a pile of Christmas presents.

"A cocoa energy burst!? I thought we were all out! Thank you so much Lincoln!" Lynn gave him a spine snapping hug, delighted by the surprise of her favorite energy drink. Lincoln knew how all of his sisters were addicted to chocolate no matter what it was in or on. He had a feeling she had forgotten that she had hid one of these in the back of the refrigerator and lucked out. He was just pleased to see Lynn happily chugging away at the drink. He took another plate and held it behind himself. The item was taken from his hand shortly after.

"You sensed me this time…? You're getting good at feeling the atmosphere," Lucy chimed in. Everyone knew about her bad habit of appearing out of nowhere and scaring people.

Lincoln had a smirk, glad to know he predicted her appearance right this time. He had tried before and usually looked silly when he failed, but he was getting better at telling when she was around. With a large family like his, the preteen boy had to really be on his toes often, whether something between the sisters involved him or not.

"I was in the mood for fruit… thank you," Lucy was grateful for the various small slices of fruits on her sandwich. Lincoln patted her back. He would do anything for his favorite little vampire. With their food delivered, he was about to leave since he only had two plates left to deliver.

"Wait, Lincoln! Once I finish eating, can we play together? My muscles are getting bored," Lynn requested. It was like her entire body begged for activity if it went without any exercise for longer than thirty minutes. Her only brother was more than aware of that tireless body of hers. When they shared a bed, she had an uncontrollable tendency to kick in her sleep. Lincoln looked to her, unsure if he was up to this. His expression asked for him what she had in mind.

"Don't even pretend to not know. I want to enjoy wrestling or lucha libre with you," Lynn exclaimed. It was one of her favorite technical sports. Being a black belt in karate and kickboxing made her quite the hard opponent to engage in physical battle.

Lincoln shook his head rapidly, giving an apologetic bow before heading off with the last few plates, leaving his sister looking disappointed at the answer. Lynn resumed chugging away at the chocolate energy drink in slight sadness, mainly hoping to drown the minor sorrow with the chocolate. It did little to distract her.

"You sure you don't want to give being gothic a try?" Lucy offered.

"For the last time, no!" Lynn groaned. Even if the two were roommates, she never liked the idea of becoming gothic. However, she had gotten an excellent laugh from when Lincoln gave his hand at being goth. It did not work out whatsoever.

"I believe Lincoln might be giving it a second… or third chance," Lucy hummed with a smile growing on her face. She sounded quite pleased at the thought.

"What? Why do you say that? Did he ask to borrow your black nail polish?" Lynn asked after swallowing another bite of her food, tilting her head in confusion.

"No, but he's acting so silent and stoic… It's really a beautiful sight to witness," Lucy explained her logic behind this, having a slight blush on her face. Lynn tried to ignore the comment. She knew her gothic sister had a point. Their brother had been extremely quiet for seemingly no reason.

"If something was wrong, he'd tell us… right?" Lynn replied. Even if she could not see her roommate's eyes, she could tell under that mess of hair that she gave her a blank stare of immense doubt.

"Maybe I'm too intense… I'll just enjoy my lunch and not think too much on it," the sports lover knew how intense she could be when it came to the very activities she loved. Lynn was worried that she may have scared him away from playing with her.

"Didn't you break his arm last week?" Lucy chirped.

 _ **"Dislocated!"**_ Lynn corrected, "Dislocated! There's a difference!"

" _Not much of one…_ "

"Just be quiet. I already feel bad enough over it."

* * *

Lincoln headed for the last of the rooms, the one that Luna shared with Luan, the house joker. He had tight bonds with both of them, but if he had to pick one as his favorite, he would be stuck trying to walk away from an impossible choice.

"Oh hey, Lincoln!" He heard after he entered the room, seeing Lola's twin Lana nearby beside Luan's bed.

"Did it work…?" Luan groaned. She looked tired and sore. Lincoln raised an eyebrow. He looked up to the top of the doorway where a bucket full of feathers, a rubber glove and fake beak lay at the top of the door itself. Lincoln had accidentally gotten past this conveniently placed trap by opening the door carefully.

" _Uh,_ no… Sorry," Lana apologized. Luan had hurt herself with a fall, and the twin was here to help take care of her until she was better.

"Dang… oh well. Better luck next time," the comedian groaned while lying her head back down on her pillow. Lincoln felt bad for accidentally bypassing the prank. He presented their foods to them.

"Oh wow! Grilled cheese! With extra cheese! Thank you, Lincoln! You're the best!" Lana squealed in joy, taking a giant bite out of her sandwich. Lincoln smiled, rubbing her red capped head. It was not exactly made on a grill, but the oven and some creativity did the job well enough. The preteen grew a little concerned with how much she wanted cheese lately though.

"Tuna paste and turkey? Thanks, Lincoln… sorry for the bucket… I'd appreciate you not telling anyone about it. I don't want to be left _'flopping'_ around," Luan meekly requested, not wanting all the hard work to gather everything up to go to waste. Lincoln ignored the bad fish pun but nodded, since it seemed pretty harmless. At worst, should it have worked, he would have had to spend the next hour getting the feathers off his hair and clothes.

" ** _Wait!_** Before you go, I have a few new jokes I wanted you to hear!" the auburn haired teen stopped him before he could leave. Lincoln quirked an eyebrow, but he decided to stay. He had one more sister left to deliver food to, but not a sandwich. Ever since he was born, Luan spent most of her comedy routine making sure he always had a bright smile on his face.

" _Aw…_ I'm sorry; I was going to tell you a joke about an empty elevator… But I haven't _'come up'_ with anything yet!" Luan was the only fellow laughing. Lana was more enraptured with her food. Lincoln was at least surprised that her new routine was involving elevator jokes.

"What? Don't tell me it's so wrong on so many _'levels'_ ," the comedic Loud continued. Lincoln gave in, if only a little. He lightly clapped while he chuckled to himself. But not one wave of sound came out of his throat. He began to leave after those hit and miss jokes.

"Wait, I have tons more! I promise they don't exceed the weight limit!" Luan watched their brother leave. It was all troublesome to her. He always listened to her full routines. She laid back down, a sigh escaping her lips, she simply began to eat her food afterwards.

"Something wrong, Luan?" Lana talked with her mouth full. The older Loud figured there was no harm in sharing her personal woes.

"I think I bored Lincoln with my routine there," Luan exclaimed, "He didn't laugh, or groan at a single thing I did!"

"Maybe you made him laugh so hard that he wasn't making any sound at all?" Lana suggested, "I saw someone laughing so hard last month that it made him look like a mute seal."

"I don't know. I've never made a single person laugh that hard before," the bucktoothed comedian disagreed. She had amused entire crowds before in clubs and parties. She doubted that anybody could laugh that hard without making noise.

"What do you think is going on with him then?"

"Maybe he's getting tired of my jokes? I couldn't tell if he was faking that smile," Luan sighed, sounding demoralized by it. Lana did not know what else to say to comfort her older sister.

"So it wasn't just me he was acting like that with?" the voice of Lori made the two look up to see her at the doorway. She overheard the two when coming to try and find Luna to ask about Lincoln.

"He acted quiet to you too?" Lana chirped.

"Yeah, he did. It was like how someone would treat a convict," Lori exclaimed. The same way a guard mostly ignored talking to prison inmates and having them only come to bring the prisoner food. It felt exactly like that, though the other sisters knew she exaggerated a lot, so they were unsure how accurate the comparison was really.

"What should we do then?" Luan worriedly inquired, more than up to hearing ideas right now. The three stepped out into the hall where they could see the downstairs from the stairway.

"I guess round up everyone for an emergency meeting, aside from mom and dad," Lori shrugged. They did not want to bother their parents with something that could be nothing.

 _"Aw…"_ Lana saw Lincoln downstairs, their youngest sister Lily was in front of him. He picked up the one-year-old while reaching into his pocket with his free arm. The baby Loud sucked on her thumb until she saw what he held in his other hand.

"Ra-baba!" Lily eagerly cooed. She had grown enough to have more gibberish added to her vocabulary over the last month. She reached with both arms for the jar of apple sauce that their brother held, it was a favorite of the infant Loud sister. Lincoln was saving her the trouble of eating much right now, since she was beginning to grow another tooth, which added pain in her mouth for even the smallest amount of effort to chew. As well as resulted in middle of the night awakenings.

"I guess this is as good of a time as any while he's distracted," Luan whispered.

"Right," Lori nodded, the three went off to round up the rest of their sisters, except for Lily.

The trio just mentally hoped that they were over thinking things and that their hearing had been simply damaged by all the Loud noise in the house. None of them wanted to imagine their brother verbally ignoring them. It tore at their hearts at the idea, since they all had wronged him. In whatever way, the fear of Lincoln being fed up with them as a whole rose to the forefront of their minds.

* * *

"Is everyone here?" Lori asked. Everyone was gathered up in the younger kids' room, the door locked. They were only in here since it was the biggest room of the house next to the basement garage and attic, but none of them wanted to be around dirty or dark environments for family meetings.

"Yes."

"Yeah."

"You bet'cha!"

"Yep!"

"Affirmative."

"Yeah, dude."

"I think so?"

" _Uhh_ … I think we're missing a few people?" Leni chimed up, uncertain if she was even counting right.

"Yeah. Mom, dad, Lincoln and Lily aren't here," Lynn said.

"Frankly, I am uncertain about us proceeding with this meeting without the peacekeepers presences," Lisa stated. Even if it was just Lincoln and Lily who kept the peace, their parents' presence alone tended to keep things calm, even if they barely got involved with their children's problems. It was the sisters themselves who usually needed to sort out these matters, since it usually were problems they had with one another.

"Sorry, but this meeting is about Lincoln," Lori explained, "I'd rather keep mom and dad out of this since they'd just make things worse if it's nothing… And Lily is distracting Lincoln."

"It's about Lincoln? Why? There's nothing wrong with the little dude," Luna responded. Now she was concerned and wondering if he was relatively too fine for lack of a better word.

"He's been acting weird…" Lana said.

"He hasn't said anything all day! Not a single peep," Luan declared. The sisters looked to each other. Everyone else had noticed minor things with him, but tried to brush it all off, believing they were imagining things. Though hearing someone else confirm the silent tone their brother had reaffirmed their beliefs further.

"He really hasn't? I just thought he was mad with me for dislocating his arm…" Lynn muttered, not sure whether this was good or bad.

"He agreed to help me take care of the weeds, but he did it without saying anything," Leni claimed, finding it strange. If he had shown any signs of sadness, she would have picked up on it. Even her low IQ could not miss such things.

"You've all been oblivious. Frankly, this has been transpiring since last night. I didn't ponder much on it at the time, but he was quiet since he returned from school yesterday," Lisa admitted. She had barely made mental note on it because he could have been easily exhausted from long days, so exhausted that even his voice could become tired.

 **"What?!"** Lola shrieked, "How stupid do you think we are?! There's no way we'd miss that!"

"He did go straight to his room and never came back out. Not even for dinner. He just slept the whole way through the night," Lucy added. Spying on her family through the house ventilation system was a practical hobby of hers.

" _How'd we not notice something like that…?_ " Luna looked at the floor while muttering, feeling a gloom of worry set into the atmosphere.

"We all were pretty busy yesterday. I don't even think half of us got home until eight in the evening," Lori tried to relieve any self guilt. Most of them had been out doing their own activities that made them not return home until late that evening. The house was a lot more relaxed yesterday due to the fewer family members.

"He brought us all our food earlier. Did he do anything else or look weird?" Lana asked. Everyone took a moment to reply, while recalling the interactions they each had with Lincoln. They decided to let everyone talk in a clockwise pattern.

"I got my food from him and left to focus on my next song," Luna shrugged, "He just seemed to want to focus on cookin' up the rest."

"I got my food while he was making them all, too, but I was exhausted from working outside…" Leni answered to the best of her poor mind's capability, "He agreed to help me pull the weeds later."

"He only listened to a few of my jokes and didn't laugh…" Luan claimed. A lot of people did not laugh at her jokes, so they were unsure how to take that.

"He smiled the whole time though," Lana added to their comedic sibling's statement since she witnessed it.

"I asked him to wrestle with me, and he acted like he couldn't get away fast enough," Lynn sighed, rubbing her head, starting to feel annoyed by her own body's restlessness. The idea of him being afraid to play any kind of sports with her still made her worry.

"He acts much more stoic to me… I still think he's going gothic again," Lucy daydreamed, not even trying to hide her practical fantasy.

"He wouldn't play tea party with me and Lisa," Lola said, but understood. He had to deliver all the food, but did not even offer to double back afterwards to join them, "He just had a look on his face that said he'd play some other time."

"I was running a routine medical examination on him before lunch, but he was not allowed to speak during it, so I barely thought on it," Lisa shrugged. She was more interested in cleaning her own glasses than this meeting.

"He wouldn't even say no problem to me when I thanked him… it was like he was playing a lazy version of charades," Lori still was more paranoid with herself, but tried not to think much on it. After everyone had spoken, silence fell once more.

"So what do we do? It's not like we can force him to speak," Luan finally broke the silence, she was not even in the mood currently to bring out the best of her worst puns.

"Why don't we offer him to do things and see how he responds?" Lucy suggested. This did not seem like something that needed complex planning.

"What can we offer him? Wait, _…maybe…_ " the oldest Loud sister felt a light bulb explode in her head.

" **Yes!** I might've just figured this out already!"

"You know why he's being quiet?! Come on! Say it!" Lynn gasped, she and the rest of the sisters emotionally brightened up at this.

"Spit it out, dude!" Luna eagerly added.

"Calm down, calm down," their oldest sister motioned them. She did not want her brother coming to check on them, he definitely would be drawn to an excited ruckus transpiring. "He might just be trying to act more like an adult. Some guys try to look cool by being quiet, you know."

"But why? Lincoln doesn't do things without having a reason for it, and I don't think he's too impulsive either," Leni responded, but her older sister still seemed pretty confident.

"So he can sit at the adults table? Maybe he thinks it's the only way? Heck, even Lisa with her giant brain isn't allowed at the adults' table yet," Lori finished her long theory. Only those who became old enough were allowed at the main table for dinner. But it barely mattered. Half of the time the adults' table acted more like the kids' table and vise versa.

"Trying to falsify growth externally to be permitted to participate with the bigger half of our family members… that is quite a brilliant guess, Lori," Lisa complimented Lori. She was not the brightest either, but much more so than Leni.

"And the easiest to way to make someone talk, is to give'em what they want. Let's go talk to mom and dad!" Luna declared. The meeting was over and the sisters would request their brother's permission to sit at the adults' table. They all hoped this would be enough to break his silence, since there was no possible way that the Loud parents would ignore all these agreeing votes for a new chair to be added. They were all more relieved since they knew that they had avoided a fight barely, everyone had wanted to begin accusing each other per usual the second their worry intensified.

* * *

"You girls want what?" Lynn Sr was by his wife in the living room, looking tired from trying to clean the garage only to find out that the family car, Vanzilla, was in need of repairs. The Loud father was simply trying to catch his energy back.

"We think it's about time Lincoln joined us at the adults table… err, the older half of us," Lori caught herself, starting to realize how awkward this was. Half of their family sat at the kids table still. Thus their support might be counterproductive.

"Well, this is coming out of nowhere," Rita said. She had a half-awake Lily in her lap. She found the thought sweet, but usually when things came without warning, it never led to good results. Her family was a living example of that. The sisters had lucked out since Lincoln had finished feeding Lily, he had gone outside to get a head start on weed removal. Leni wished to rush this so she could go help him already. "What made you ask this? It's nice you want him at the table, but usually your father and I decide when someone's old enough to join it."

"Come on, mom! He looks out of place at the kids table! He's getting bigger by the day too!" Leni tried to half-lie. Only Lisa paid the most attention to Lincoln's height.

"He'll be thirteen before we know it too," Lynn added, "is there really a point in making him wait?"

"He mostly spends his time feeding Lily at dinner, and he usually only consumes a quarter of his meal before it begins to go cold as well," Lisa explained. They tried to let Lily feed herself, but she needed help sometimes or else she would play with the food rather than eat it. As result Lincoln tended to spend half his dinner feeding their youngest sister.

"Guess that explains why he is slower to finish than everyone else…" Lynn Sr muttered. He wondered on that for a while now. He just presumed his son enjoyed the food so much that he wanted to savor the flavors.

"Sooo whaddya think?" Luna asked.

" _Well…_ I mean, if you all think he's ready to move on up than who are we to disagree?" Rita saw no point in disagreeing, cleaning some drool off Lily's cheek as she slumbered.

"As long as you all think it's fair," Lynn Sr nodded, and then so did most of the sisters, both young and old. Lola said nothing until she felt Lana elbow her in the side.

" _Oof!_ …Uh… yeah… it'll give us more leg room," Lola forced a positive excuse for agreeing past her lips. She so badly wanted to say how unfair it was to her, that she wanted to be at the adults' table as well, but she had to remind herself that it was to try and get their brother back to normal and give him what they assumed he wanted.

"Should we tell him now or later?" Lana questioned, their family wondering how long they should save the surprise for.

"I say now. He's done a lot today," Lucy responded, just wishing for him to return to his normal self as soon as possible.

"Sure has," Lori nodded. She and the rest agreed.

"Yay! I'll go get him!" Leni hurried off, wanting to help him with the weed pulling first. Lori just hoped that this worked.

"I guess you can say he'll get his _'just desserts'_."

"Glad to see you're feeling better, Luan…"

* * *

" _ **Lincy!**_ We have a surprise for you!" Leni called out. The yard looked clearer now. Only half a dozen weeds remained by the fence. The preteen was using a trowel to try and uproot the weed, ripping it out and tossing it into a nearby trash bag.

"Oh… you already did it all…?" She asked. Lincoln nodded, sweating from the hard work, plus the sweltering temperature of today from the sun beating down on him.

"Lincoln, that's not fair to you! This was my chore. We should've at least done the job together," Leni slightly scolded him. Whether or not he did this on his own accord did little to alleviate the feeling like she had bossed him around, and she hated to feel that way, even a little bit.

Lincoln averted his gaze to the ground, looking apologetic. However, he had his attention grabbed when Leni showed him twenty dollars. He raised an eyebrow before she placed it into his hand.

"I can at least give you that as thanks… But keep it secret, okay?" she replied. Lincoln tried to give the money back, but she refused. Her only brother went through a grueling long task in her place, and this was the least she could do to show her appreciation.

"Thanks again, Lincoln… Come on. We have a surprise to show you," Leni insisted, a bit saddened at the lack of vocal responses. Lincoln nodded, seeing no point in fighting his low IQ sibling. She could be one of the more stubborn of his sisters. Once she had her mind set on something, it was hard to break through and change it. He pocketed the cash before following her back inside their home, entering the kitchen through the back door.

The middle Loud child looked around, not able to notice anything different at first. His eyes wandered until he realize that another section of length had been added to the adults table to increase its size, much to his confusion.

"Well? What do you think?" he heard his mother at the kitchen doorway. He saw his sisters all spying on him.

"…well, Lincoln?" Leni tried to push him to answer, but it was clear he had not a real idea what was going on. He was just confused, worried and ready to crank up his legs to full speed and leave if he had to.

"Guess it's hard to notice when just a chair's been moved… Especially when there's over ten of them," Lynn Sr chuckled, doubting anyone would even have noticed if they had not seen them doing the slight rearranging. Their only son still drew blanks.

"You're going to be joining us at the grownups table from now on, Lincoln," Rita came out and said it. Beating around the bush had gone on long enough now, and seeing their son nervous for any reason bothered her.

Lincoln heard clapping. His sisters finally came out from their poor attempts at hiding. Lincoln, all the same, saw this as another step in life that he had taken toward becoming an adult.

"Congrats, bro!"

"That's great, Lincoln!"

"You really are growing up every day!"

"You're lucky to get to join the adults table before you turn thirteen."

"Certainly this is quite an honor."

"Don't worry. We'll make sure Lily gets more of her food in her than on her!"

"I'm just glad to have someone else who isn't across the room to talk with."

"You really are trying to make it harder and harder to call you little brother, aren't you?"

"I hope you can actually get a growth spurt. I think I missed my chance for mine… It really would've given me a boost in any sport!"

"You're really _'growing'_ around, eh Lincoln?"

"Okay, that one was decent, Luan."

Lincoln had a bright smile on his face and gleam in his eyes. He did his best to try and hug his whole family. Lily giggled while returning the hug warmly.

 _"I didn't think he'd be so happy that he'd be at a loss for words…"_ Lori twitched. She had not planned on this, or anticipated how long their only brother had actually been waiting for this day. After that failed plan to try and get there on his own, he had given up and settled for what he had.

"We're glad you like the surprise son. Your sisters insisted that you should join," Mr. Loud stated. He and his wife were glad to see their son happy. They often worried if the only Loud boy was hiding his true emotions, but they could never talk to him based on nothing but pure conjecture. They hoped that if he was having any woes that he would come to them to talk about it.

 _"We need to regroup,"_ Luna whispered to the rest of her sisters with a heavy tone of seriousness to her voice. While Lincoln went to give their parents hugs, the sisters took their secret leave, taking Lily with them this time, hoping their parents could act as good distractions this time around.

* * *

 **"I can't believe this!"** Lynn was upset. The girls were back in the same meeting that they had hoped to not need to repeat again. Nothing too unusual for the Loud family that their plan went sideways.

"I must confess that he had quite a lot more pleasure endorphins go off in his brain than I anticipated… I suppose that's our mistake for not taking that into account," Lisa commented, more ashamed of herself for not taking such notes. Nobody thought simply switching tables for breakfast and dinner could excite someone so much.

"I still feel terrible that he did my chore for me…" Leni muttered, her knees brought to her chest, a bad habit of hers that kicked in when she was upset. Lori had seen it and caused it more than her fair share of times due to their many fights.

"Someone else did my chore for me before I could this morning. It was really weird. I was thinking mom and dad had done it, but they told me they didn't," Luan exclaimed. Now she was questioning if Lincoln was behind doing the laundry as well. It really made her feel bad.

"Boo boo," Lily rested in Lucy's lap. The gothic Loud was more lost in her own thoughts than anything.

"So operation get Lincoln to the adult table to make him quit being quiet worked so well that it somehow backfired! I've never had this happen to me before... Also, we really need a shorter name for these operations." Lori held her head, frustrated with herself, but now she had become so focused on their brother that she was ignoring her cellphone, after telling her boyfriend she was busy.

 _"I wonder if this is how Lincoln feels…"_ Lana meekly murmured. Their brother often had to operate his plans alone while all his sisters usually worked either in tandem or in groups, either not involved or using their own in a long complex method against him to get what they wanted.

"Maybe he's depressed?" Lola suggested.

"He isn't," Lucy flatly shot that idea down. Their brother did not show any signs of depression. He just seemed to not want to talk to anyone, yet he clearly did not mind interacting with them either.

"Well come on, dudes!" Luna begged, more upset than before, "This is our brother! We should be able to tell why he's being quiet! Especially if he's upset!"

"Then… maybe it's because of us?" Leni had the thought spring up and decided to share it with the rest of her sisters from there. Everyone else fell quiet, having not really wanted to think that might be the case.

"You mean it's because one of us upset him that he's not speaking to any of us?" Lori rhetorically spoke, "…So this is Lynn's fault?"

" _Excuse me?_ How is it **MY** fault?! I haven't done anything to him!" Lynn angrily responded, looking ready to strangle her oldest sister for the accusation.

"You broke his arm last week," Lucy reminded.

"Dislocated!" her roommate repeated, "And why are you trying to blame it on me, Lori? He'd only be ignoring me if he's this mad at me dislocating his arm! He's ignoring _**ALL**_ of us! Besides, you're the one who can't go two days without shouting at him for any excuse you can get like a harpy!"

"I never shout without a reason!" Lori countered, "I tell you all to not come into my room when I'm not there, it isn't my fault nobody listens! I know you act like it in most of your sports, but you can quit being such a sore loser."

Lynn had her final nerve ticked, she practically exploded and tackled her eldest sister to the floor.

"This is not helping at all…" Luna held her head, wishing she could separate the two, but they were better off fighting their irritation out instead of shouting it out.

"Didn't you get a big needle stuck in his hand the other day?" Luan asked Leni.

 _"Yeah,"_ the fashion lover sadly nodded, "I was trying to make a dress for a friend, and Lincoln was helping. I tripped and got it in his hand really bad, but it was easy to get out… even after that, he kept doing his best to help."

"Guess that needle to the palm really took the voice outta his throat?"

"Are you trying to blame this on me, Luan? You gave him five pies with different pranks in each one!" Leni countered, "Feathers, nasty food dye, explosives that would send pie chunks everywhere…"

"Oh, come on! The pies did no harm beyond making a mess!" Luan retorted, "I think Lincoln fell for each one on purpose, too!"

"Of course he did! If he didn't, you'd just be mopey all day! He had to clean up every time, while you just sat there laughing too! You're not a comedian, you're a bully!" Leni added, becoming more upset by the minute.

"Not to mention dye coloring stains teeth and the feathers could have been from disease ridden birds. Such risks do need to be taken into consideration, Luan," Lisa pointed out. Before she knew it, those two were fighting as well. She adjusted her glasses as she watched the two brawls. "Well… these are results I did **_NOT_** expect."

Lana looked to her twin. "Didn't you shove him down the stairs a few days ago?"

" **What?!** That was you!" Lola responded. During one of their many natural fights the two had, they had accidentally knocked Lincoln down the stairwell and did not notice until way after the fight.

"You did it!"

"No, you did it!"

 _"You!"_

 **"You!"**

 _"You!"_

 **"You!"**

"I suppose saying that it was both of your faults would do no good?" Lisa was beginning to gain a migraine from this.

"That's really funny, coming from the one that doesn't even treat him like our brother," Lola hissed, catching the child prodigy off guard.

"I beg your pardon?" Lisa responded with her arms crossed, "I know everything about his body so I can help him when he needs it! I doubt half of you even know what food he's allergic to."

"She's kind of right, Lisa. You treat him like a lab rat more than anything… it's still better than Lola using him as a personal stool at least," Lana's words did little to calm things down. Luna, Lucy and Lily watched in surprise as a third fight induced dust cloud broke out.

"Wow… it takes a lot to get Lisa riled up…" the rock loving Loud commented, guessing that just went to show how worried everyone was becoming for Lincoln.

"Should we do something?" Lucy asked. Her older sister scratched her head, not sure what to do. Lily was laughing at the display before her, finding the slapstick funny.

"I don't think there _**IS**_ anything we can do on this one. If we stop them, they'll just keep taking shots at each other til they can actually finish a fight," Luna sat down on one of the twins' beds, taking their baby sister from the gothic.

"Better to let them beat each other up. If Lola and Lana have taught me anything, they'll make up after that."

"I guess you're right," Lucy nodded.

"In the meantime, why don't we come up with some ideas on how to get him to talk? If they all don't work, we'll definitely know he's mad at us," Luna exclaimed, but still partially felt bad for all this. She took responsibility for accidentally dropping one of her amplifiers on his foot the other day while he was trying to help her move it. Lucy was guilty for taking some of his clothing for what she claimed was a ritual in secrecy, he had caught her in the middle of said procedure. He did not exactly buy her lie to say the least. The two were not going to go denying their incidents. They both knew more fighting would do no good.

"I hope you're right, Luna… I really do," Lucy sighed. It might not show behind her usual straight face, but she was becoming immensely upset. Imagining their only brother hating them was a personal nightmare for each of the Loud girls. She wanted to just go to Lincoln apologize and beg him to say something. But she was aware that would make her look pathetic and most likely cause an awkward shock of silence.

"Don't worry, Lucy. I think better with loud noise. You know it," Luna reassured while Lily was gnawing on her hand, not that she cared much.

"Trust me… We _**all** _know."

* * *

Lincoln currently was texting on his cellphone. He wanted, but was unable to relax in the living room. He was happy today was going great thus far, but for some reason he had an unnerving worry in the back of his head.

"Are you sure warm tea will help?" his text asked, looking at the cup resting beside him. After waiting for a moment, a reply was sent to him.

"Yes Lame-o. It helps better than doing nothing," it was sent by Ronnie Anne Santiago, his girlfriend and a school bully who did not drop that act just for the sake of their relationship. She couldn't do much more than give advice to help her boyfriend, and it frustrated her.

"She's right bro. Try and take it easy. But hey, it was worth it. Yesterday was awesome! You really rocked it," his best friend, Clyde McBride, chimed up in the group text chat. The two had known each other for the longest time and always sought each other for help when needed.

"I didn't plan on doing any of that… I felt like I was going to have a heart attack," Lincoln responded. He swore he could sense the two laughing at him over the events of that day.

"Yeah having nearly everyone in schools eyes on you can do that," Ronnie Anne replied.

"I've never seen someone put on the spot so roughly and come out looking golden. You're going to probably be the talk of the school once it starts back up," Clyde exclaimed. Lincoln felt embarrassed. He had only done it to help out a duo in a tight spot and managed to make a lot of people have a great moment to relax on what was tough school day.

"Just don't expect me to go through that again," Lincoln felt his nervousness rise. He decided it was time to leave the chat before this nervousness grew further.

"I'm going to lie down. Maybe I'll feel better after that."

"Alright bro. You take care," Clyde replied.

"Alright," Ronnie Anne replied, "And Lame-o?"

"Yeah?"

"You better be better before our next date. If you aren't I'm gonna be mad."

"Love you too, Ronnie Anne," Lincoln could tell by these text messages that his girlfriend was worried, he doubted anything he said would change that at the moment. He put his cellphone away before continuing to drink his tea.

 _"Guess while mom and dad are gone, I can take a nap on the couch,"_ he thought to himself. The Loud parents went to get Vanzilla checked out from a real mechanic after their father had gotten it to barely start running again. Lincoln turned to his side, lying down, resting his head on his arm and closing his eyes.

* * *

Barely ten minutes passed, before he was rapidly shaken awake once more. He reluctantly opened his eyes. A panicked Lynn stood beside him.

"Lincoln! Charles ran outside, and by the time I got out there, he was long gone! Please, I need help finding him!" the auburn haired girl begged. She had some scratches, scrapes and bruises on her that he glossed over as nothing unusual. Lincoln sprung to his feet, surprised. The family dog never did those sorts of things. Charles was tamer than most dogs he knew.

The two went outside. Lincoln saw a collar lying on the front porch. He assumed Charles had accidentally taken it off by getting it caught on a prominent nail. They never kept his collar on too tightly because of how uncomfortable it made him.

"Quick! Maybe he'll come if he hears your voice!" Lynn insisted. Lincoln knew how upset she felt at the thought of losing their dog, after all he was the closest with him so her idea made perfect sense. Lynn watched anxiously as he took in a deep breath. However, before he could do anything further, his attention was caught.

"…uh, why'd you stop?" she asked confusedly. He happily went off around to the side of the porch, Lynn's jaw dropped. Charles had barely gotten two feet away from the front door, just to investigate a bush.

 ** _"I just needed you to do this one thing, Charles…! This one thing for me!"_** Lynn grinded her teeth in frustration. That was her plan to get him to speak now demolished. She had not been too worried about the pet dog getting in any harm since Lisa had put tracking chips in all of the four pets that belonged to the loud family. Lynn had to force a bright smile when Lincoln returned, carrying the rather small dog. He handed Charles over to Lynn before fixing his collar back on him.

" _Th_ …thank you, Lincoln. I guess we got lucky, huh?" Lynn tried to not show her inner irritation. Lincoln gave a thumbs up and flashed that same bright bucktoothed smile. He rubbed the dog's head before going back into the house. Lynn inwardly growled. Charles was just rubbing it in when he began to lick her cheek.

"Sorry, my plan's ruined. Go to Plan C next!" Lynn spoke to a small radio she had, she was still very annoyed with herself and did not hesitate to express it in her tone.

 _ **"Roger!"**_ Lola responded. With a sigh, Lynn put away the tiny radio, casting her annoyed gazed down to Charles who was panting happily.

"Let's just go on a quick walk, boy," Lynn sighed again. As one of his many owners, she gave in to his charm.

* * *

Lincoln was back in the living room. He sat on the couch, taking the TV remote into his hand. He was happy to be so lucky today. It seemed like anything that remotely could go wrong would handle itself with minimal effort.

 _"Lincoooooooln,"_ he heard a long tired whine, looking over he saw Lola standing off to the side of the couch, holding one of her favorite bedtime books. He or one of their other siblings or their parents would read to her some of these books to help her get to sleep usually. Lincoln tilted his head confusedly, wondering why one of his third youngest sisters looked so exhausted with bags under her eyes.

" _Will you read me a story…?_ _I want to take a nap, but I can't get to sleep,"_ Lola explained through her half yawn. Lincoln rubbed his head. He knew how much she despised naps. She usually had to be forced to take them, not that it was hard. He hated to imagine how bad she was feeling to be voluntarily up to having a nap.

Lincoln nodded, rubbing his little sister's head. He let her lay on the couch in his place, he then went to grab the nearby blanket and pillow from the closet that they stored the spares within.

 _"Wow… she really is good at acting,"_ Lana whispered. She and Lisa currently watched from the staircase. Both looked heavily battered from their fierce fight.

"No, she's not acting. I have a lot of issues with insomnia, so I created a rather quick acting sleeping aid to help me relax," the child genius informed her older sister. They watched Lola receive the attention she always desired, and their brother doing his best to make sure she was comfortable. To the spoiled child if this worked, it was a win win situation really.

" _Uhh…_ " Lana stared at Lisa, "It's safe to use, _**right?**_ "

"There is no risk to anyone that uses my formula. It's just impossible to tell how fast acting it is, frankly it is random. But it never takes longer than fifteen minutes at most," Lisa reassured. The plan the three had made was to make Lola drowsy, both in terms of looks and expression. They used makeup to make the twin look paler and drowsier, and the sleeping aid to begin to add onto the tiredness. All of this was combined so Lincoln would take sympathy for her. So far the plan was working smoothly. However, when Lincoln took a seat beside Lola and opened the book, he was about to begin reading it out, but he did not get the chance, he stopped with a surprised look on his face.

"Oh, you can _**NOT**_ be serious…!" Lana face palmed. Lola seemingly blacked out as soon as a comfortable blanket was wrapped around her. Lincoln looked down to the book. He shrugged, resting her favorite bedtime story aside before taking her tiara off her head and resting it on the coffee table in front of her. He went outside into the back yard, thinking he could spend some time relaxing out under the sun. He would hate to risk waking Lola up after seeing how tired she was.

 _"Perhaps I should refocus my research on the sleep formula again…"_ Lisa sighed. She was glad Lola had left her radio with them. Lana held it up.

"Plan C fell flat. Don't hold back with Plan D," Lana then heard a lot of disappointed groaning over the radio. She just laid her head down on the floor. The irritation and stress was getting to her.

"We should prepare Plan E. Just as a precaution," Lisa suggested, helping Lana up. The two then headed off back upstairs to try and prepare their pre-emptive plan, in case anything else went wrong.

* * *

Lincoln sat under a tree in the backyard, enjoying the partial shade in the hot environment. There were barely a cloud in the sky and he could feel the grass against his bare skin. He felt the desire to just camp outside all day. Sadly, even if he planned on staying out here as long as he could stand the heat, he was not able to tolerate it that much.

"Hey, Lincoln. I didn't think I'd see you take up tanning," Lori chimed up, approaching him. Lincoln opened his eyes and looked to her. He felt uneasy already. She never sounded this friendly to him unless she had a reason. It also tended to be a bad sign of her loneliness for example like when her boyfriend was not around.

"Not that it's a bad thing. It'll make you look tougher… A lot of girls love a tanned man," she took a seat beside him, deciding to join him underneath the minor shade. He was confused by that statement, but remained relaxed.

There was nothing but silence from there. It was almost as if Lori's plan was to try and create such a heartrending atmosphere that it would push him into trying to break the ice. Instead she had one in mind with seldom complexity. That fight with Lynn earlier had opened her eyes.

" _Lincoln…_ You know I love you, right?" she asked. Lincoln could not react as he felt Lori pull him into a tight hug, his head leaned against her chest. He could almost hear her heart racing.

"I'm sorry if I don't show it much… Or at all… Or act like a complete jerk to you over every little thing," the oldest Loud sister continued her apology. She felt terrible for treating him badly. She knew by heart that her mind probably exaggerated things, but when she tried to think back of the latest good time the two had with each other, she could remember nothing. It tore at her heart more than anything else to imagine she might do nothing but treat him poorly.

Lincoln tried to reassure Lori she had nothing to worry about. He wrapped his arms around her to return the warm hug. The oldest Loud sibling was reminded of the times when he was a lot younger. When Lincoln was tiny, He could barely go once a week without sneaking into her and Leni's room and requesting to sleep with her due to a nightmare of some kind.

"If there's anything I can do to make things up to you, just say it and it's yours, _alright?_ " Lori insisted but received no response. Lincoln only wanted this hug to last a while longer. He felt a few damp drips of warm liquid land on his face. He looked up to Lori, confused. He was surprised by what he saw.

* * *

"Who knew a deep apology could count as a plan?" Leni said, watching from upstairs beside Luna. Lori had told them what she was going to do after all. The two were watching from Lori and Leni's room's window to see the results.

"Heh… I don't think she had a plan at all… It's sweet to know she still has a heart for someone other than Bobby," Luna replied with her thoughts. If she had to guess, Lori planned to make an actual plan after her talk with Lincoln. She simply took her heart on her sleeve on matters to try and make things right where they felt wrong.

" _ **Oh!**_ I think it worked!" Leni clapped eagerly. Luna jumped up at the news.

" **Really?!** What happened?!" the guitarist begged to be filled in, unable to see anything different at the scene outside, but was grateful they stayed inside. Eavesdropping on such a heart-warming scene seemed rather cruel to many of the hearts of the Loud family.

"Lori's crying… I can see her makeup running from here," Leni explained, taking it as a sign that their brother had finally opened up his voice again. They both felt relieved.

"Sheesh… the last time she cried this much, her pillow got stained," Luna muttered, able to see the stream of tears running down Lori's cheeks from this distance. Lincoln was trying to cheer her up, but all he could really do was to keep the tight embrace and let her cry as much as she wanted onto him.

* * *

A short time later, the two watched from a far as Lincoln helped Lori along through the room door. The oldest sister seemed embarrassed at how emotional she was for him. Her waterworks had lightened up, but not by much.

" _Th-thanks Lincy…_ " Lori mused, now back in her and Leni's room. Lincoln rarely heard her refer to him like that. He helped her lay down in her bed, motioning her to her bed so she could get some rest to relieve the upset attitude.

"There… Th-there isn't anything you want? I try and chase you around half the time for nothing…" Lori asked. Lincoln was more curious why his older sister had so many scrapes and bruises that were more noticeable now with her makeup messed up. He shook his head, remaining silent. There was nothing that he really desired lately, but his silence currently seemed more like he had gotten lost in his own focus of trying to help his oldest sister.

Lori stayed lying there, not sure what more to say. She watched Lincoln go off, aware that it was probably to try and get the first aid kit, one of many their family always had ready.

"Nice to see you acting your age for once," Luna chirped, she and Leni entering the room. The two had been eavesdropping and came in once Lincoln had left.

"Oh, Lori! Your plan worked! I'm so happy!" Leni dove onto her older sister's bed, hugging her.

"Who says headlocks don't help someone think?" Luna joked, referring to Lori and Lynn's fight. Unfortunately it was one sided and the sports addict won, then showboated a good while afterwards.

" _What are you talking about…?_ " Lori questioned, looking slightly embarrassed to be seen like this. Normally when she was upset, she would have no hesitation to steal all the ice cream and cry to herself in the living room for long periods of time.

"Wasn't that your plan? To apologize to Lincoln to try and get him to talk again?" Leni was then shoved out of the bed by her sister's foot, she landed on the floor with a Loud thud, breaking the unwanted embrace. The oldest Loud sister rolled over, looking to the wall.

"I had no plan… Just chalk up the table move as my plan and call it a failure," Lori sighed. She had just wanted to relieve the stress in her heart and let her brother know how she truly felt.

"So Plan A is Plan D now…?" Leni chirped, confusedly trying to make sense of it all.

"Don't think too hard on it, Leni," Luna patted her back, and then looked to Lori when she registered what her oldest sister had said, "What do you mean failure, Lori? You mean he didn't say anything?! What was with the waterworks out there then?" Luna questioned. Lori still had her back toward them, seeming more interested in the textures of the wall than the conversation at hand.

"I… I was just trying to apologize to him since I've been so mean to him l-lately… I couldn't remember the last good moment we've had together in a long time, bu-but then he looked up to me with that cute innocent face of his and it reminded me of when he was still a baby… _and…_ " Lori could not respond further as she once again began crying. Her sisters felt bad for bringing it up now. Luna saw Lincoln at the doorway after he finally found the first aid kit.

"O-oh hey Lincy! Sorry, we were worried about Lori," Leni spoke, hoping that they did not get found out. They seemed to have gotten lucky.

"You really are becomin' a ladies' killer," Luna joked, trying to brush past things. Lincoln did not know how to reply to that. He just went over to Lori to help take care of her injuries and her makeup if she wished for help with it. While he was distracted with their oldest sister, Luna and Leni took that note and left.

"Alright Plan A… D," Leni tried to speak into the radio that she and Luna shared, "I mean… no, is it A-D now? _Uh…_ "

Luna snatched it from her sibling's hand. "Plan D proved he isn't depressed, but it still failed. Good luck with Plan E."

"Hooo, boy… We'll give it 200%," Lisa turned communications off. Luna and Leni went off to get their own plan prepared in case.

"I've never seen so many plans fail back to back before!" Leni had to confess. It was just adding onto her worry.

"I'll say…" Luna sighed. She again wondered if their brother felt exactly this way when his sisters sabotaged one of his plans, "He might not be depressed, but I still wouldn't blame him if he's mad at us."

"Are you really sure about that?" Leni asked.

"Positive," Luna nodded. Each plan that failed to make him speak made them further assume that they had somehow angered their brother, so much so that it had earned them all the silent treatment. And they knew if all the plans failed, it would solidify the only option left to why he was ignoring them all verbally.

"Let's just focus on getting Plan F ready."

* * *

After helping Lori with what he could and her bumps and scratches treated, Lincoln left her and Leni's room to let her enjoy her rest. He had no idea what to do now. Today had been nothing short of chaotic, but in a somehow calm way.

"Lincoln, can I request your presence for a minute?" Lisa chimed in from behind him. Lincoln nodded and followed her along. He saw it as another day of handling several problems for his sisters, but he figured it was the least he could do for them all for getting him moved up to the adults table.

* * *

Lincoln went wide eyed when they arrived to the younger kids' room. There by Lisa's workbench was a living robot copy of him. The clear empty eyes and weird sharp points it had on its head to mimic his hair disturbed him. He looked to his genius sister, his face showing his demand for an explanation.

"I assumed you needed help with certain tasks, so I designed this old L-Bot nearly a year ago. Sadly I got side tracked with other tasks and forgot about him until I found some of his pieces in my junk pile," Lisa went up to the robot, pulling out a tiny bow and sticking it onto the front of it.

"I hope you like the present. Lana helped with a good fraction of it," she adjusted her glasses. Lincoln held his head, not even sure how to feel about this. The thought the gift was sweet, but the L-Bot's appearance made it look designed like it had the purpose to be only a mechanical guard. He approached his mechanical twin, making a note to also thank Lana next time he saw her.

"I certainly outdid myself with coding his AI. The L-Bot even comes with safety features, so you do not have to worry about someone stealing him while he is deactivated," Lisa continued with pride in her tone. Lincoln got scared when the robots eyes lit up a bright orange color, causing him to fall back.

"Oh, apologies. That's its self activation counter-theft program engaging. It does that when someone is in radius of it and touches it," Lisa said. Her slapping the bow on the robot did this, even if it had been slightly delayed, resulting in her being its target. Lincoln watched as the L-Bot began to approach Lisa, seeing it extend its arms out.

"It's voice commanded. Just tell it to shut down and it'll stop. If it has a target, it will assail it until the presumed thief loses consciousness," the child prodigy claimed. Lincoln felt his heart racing upon hearing that, when the robot got one step too close to Lisa. However, he decided words were worthless in this situation for something that dangerous. He rushed up and tackled the L-Bot, knocking it down to the floor.

 **"Ow!"**

 _"Oh dear…"_ Lisa gulped nervously. Lincoln quirked an eyebrow. The robot was not metal at all, but it was convincingly crafted to look like it was. He reached down, taking the head off L-Bot. There he saw a battered Lana inside the costume.

"H… hi Lincoln," Lana gave a nervous toothless grin with sweat running down her forehead. Getting inside of a hot costume had been a large effort, tolerating being within it was even worse. Lincoln began to help the mechanically gifted girl out, basically tearing the costume apart.

"I suppose it is safe to believe you do not like the gift?" Lisa rhetorically spoke as a leg of the costume got thrown her way, which she then caught. A sigh escaped her lips as she expressed self-disappointment. With the costume now gone, Lincoln picked up Lana and sat her down on her bed.

"W-we thought you'd like to have some help and a personal robot sounded like a good idea," Lana tried to lie to cover up their true intentions behind this whole scheme. Voice activation sounded like a good plan with the threat of the fake robot trying to hurt someone. Otherwise they thought it would be perfect.

Lincoln sighed, motioning her to wait here while he left to go retrieve the medical supply kit. He again presumed he had caused the bruises on Lana when really it was due to that fight between her, Lola and Lisa.

"Plan E backfired and I think I've got a concussion…" Lana spoke into the radio before throwing the tiny device at the wall in frustration, hearing it bounce off and land in Lily's crib, waking up the youngest Loud from her nap. Lily instantly brightened up when she eyed the radio beside her, seeing it as a new toy.

"My deepest apologies, Lana. I did not take his paternal instinct for the younger side of the family into account," Lisa sighed. Lately she had been missing things that should have been so obvious to her genius brain. What a terrible feeling that was.

"Nah," Lana lay back, holding her head in pain, "It's on me for apparently being able to perfectly act like a scary killer robot."

"Arbaga!" Lily cooed, while gnawing on the radio.

"Indeed, Lily. We can't give up! …however, my mind is unable to fathom other ideas and I believe I have to monitor Lana's condition to make sure she has not sustained any serious injuries," Lisa felt like Lily tried to motivate their entire family. Whether or not it was intentional, she could not tell. After a moment, they saw Lincoln come back with the first aid kit.

 _"What is going on with my family today…?"_ Lincoln pondered in his own head. He currently wanted to focus on treating one of the third youngest siblings injuries. He was more worried since they were all acting so weird and it was no one's birthday today as far as he could recall, if it was that would explain a lot. He knew it was not their pets 'adopted into the family' days, but they still celebrated their pets' arrivals into their family like they would anyone else.

" _Sorry for scaring you, Lincoln…_ " Lana muttered woefully.

"I understand if you don't wish to forgive us. Scaring you like that was uncalled for and…" Lisa felt Lincoln's hand on her head which messed up her hair slightly, trying to reassure her that it was alright. The young boy was blaming himself for tackling Lana like that since he didn't know it was her in that costume.

" _…Why is it the kindest members of society have to also act like the most humble and therefore becoming the hardest to appease?_ " Lisa murmured to herself, not sure what to do now. Hoping the other plans they had left would work, all she could really do was aid in treating Lana's injuries.

* * *

Lincoln tried to forget what had happened. Now he really had no clue what to do, getting any moment of rest was impossible.

 _"Maybe I should get more tea? That might help,"_ the middle child rubbed his head. He began to head for the staircase, but before he could, a messy trail of confetti on the floor caught his eye.

 _"Well… I've seen scarier trails before,"_ Lincoln thought, his eyes following the trail to the slightly ajar door to Luan and Luna's room. He had a hunch that the trail was meant for him and what he thought it would lead to, so he decided to follow it along.

 **"Surprise!"** several large blasts of confetti went off, covering him from head to toe in shredded paper thin strips of paper and glitter. He had a feeling that this confetti was from their mother's paper shredder and had just been painted randomly.

" _Oops… sorry_. That might have been too much confetti," Luan sheepishly smiled. Lincoln wiped what he could off his face, a little annoyed. He knew from experience with Lola that he would be finding glitter on his body for the next few months.

"Anyways! Welcome to _**YOUR**_ personal magic show!" Luan announced. Lincoln could only stare at Luan in her magicians outfit, and a livid Lucy in a magician's assistant costume.

"Luna's going to kill you for doing this," Lucy reminded her. Luan dabbled in magic to help with her pranks and stand up routines. They had moved the room furniture apart to make space for everything, but if it was for a good cause, the comedian was sure Luna would not mind.

Lincoln did not know what to say. It seemed like his sisters all were trying to give him one surprise after another today. It was starting to make him wonder if he was dreaming or not. He took a seat on the floor, deciding to try and enjoy the show. He was curious how Luan got Lucy to agree to this. It had to have been a nightmare to accomplish.

"For my first trick, I'll start with something simple… Assistant, my playing cards, please," Luan held out her hand. The gothic sibling slapped the small deck of cards onto her hand. Their brother watched as Luan pulled out her magic wand from her ear.

"As you can see all of these cards are normal, nothing out of the ordinary, **_YET_** ," the comedian bent the deck of cards to prove her point.

"Now I'll turn three of these cards into hard glass," she smiled, beginning to wave the wand over the cards.

 **" _Al-luanbra-kadabra!_ "** after tapping the cards with the wand, she crushed them all into her hand. Lincoln had never seen her do this trick before, which was odd since he was usually her assistant.

"Oh, whoops! I accidentally made them into a tie!" Luan said. Upon opening her hand, the cards had all warped and bent together into the shape of a necktie. It looked pretty fancy in design, but she still did not intend on this.

"I think that's what happens when you only spend five minutes practicing," Lucy commented, their older sister putting on the tie, looking a bit disappointed until she reached into the center of it.

 _ **"Ta-da!"**_ Luan pulled out three cards that had been hidden inside the card tie; the joker, the king and the ace of hearts. She threw the king card to her brother which he caught with ease. She gave the ace of hearts to Lucy, while she kept the joker card to herself.

Lincoln was in awe. The card felt like it had been trapped in a thin case at a glass manufacturing plant. It had a lot more weight to it and no longer bent.

" _Uhh, Lucy, why isn't he saying anything…?_ " Luan quietly muttered through her teeth to her assistant.

"You're using your best tricks that no one has ever seen before. He might just be blown away," Lucy responded with her theory. These new tricks might be working well, yet they were supposed to impress him with several magic tricks until he would state his amazement to one of them.

" _Crud… it's like Lori's plan all over again…_ But that's okay! I got two more new ones left to use!" Luan stepped back into the center, ready to take on the challenge. Lincoln, his attention regained, put the glass card aside.

" _You literally never practiced this one before. This is not a good idea, Luan,_ " Lucy whispered, but she was ignored. Her older sister held her hand out, waiting. The gothic huffed and handed over a fifty cent coin to Luan. "Don't say I didn't warn you…"

"Y'know when I was little I was always told my teeth looked strong enough to bite through metal, or at least the bullies always joked about that… So I figured it's about time to put that idea to the test!" Luan declared. Lincoln had no idea what any of that meant and it worried him. People made fun of him for his teeth, but they tended to stop when he reminded them that if he decided to bite with them, it would hurt a lot worse than the average bite.

"Here we go! _**Al-luanbra-kadabra!**_ " with one flip of the coin and a tap with the wand, Luan put it into her mouth, before biting it down. The crunching sound that followed made her siblings cringe.

Lincoln watched her spit it out, it rolled toward him. He picked it up and saw a giant straight hole through it.

"Are you okay?" Lucy questioned.

" _Ye…_ yeah… I just nearly missed. I'm fine… I'm… _oh gosh…_ " Luan groaned, holding her mouth sorely. the customized fake coin was supposed to be able to be easy enough for her to bite through as long as she did not miss it. But she did not take the size of her teeth into account.

"Go lay down. I'll do the last trick," Lucy reluctantly ordered. Luan was surprised that the gothic girl was willing to do this, but guessed that went to show how desperate she was to get Lincoln to talk. The Loud boy watched with worry.

"Luan is taking a break right now. She burnt out her magic… _or something…_ so I'll take over for the last trick," Lucy tried to put on her best show woman voice, but could not muster the enthusiasm. She felt embarrassed to be doing this in front of him. She pulled out three normal sized balls.

"I'm just going to make these float without any stupid sounding words or a wand," Lucy simply stated. Lincoln watched her throw each one in the air before holding her hands back out as if to catch them again. Before they landed however, they stopped just above the palms of her hands.

"What the…? That wasn't one of the tricks," Luan was just as surprised as her brother did watching the levitating balls. Each time Lucy moved her fingers, the balls followed. Lincoln began clapping when she began to make them spin in a circle. It was such a simple trick, but it was convincing. Lucy had a light blush and a small smile at the praise she received afterwards. She let the spheres fall to the floor.

"That was amazing, Lucy! When and how did you learn that trick?!" Luan eagerly asked, coming to her little sister.

"Who said it was a trick?" Lucy answered with a straight face, creeping her sibling out. Before they could ask Lincoln anything, they were interrupted by a loud crying coming from Lily. The middle Loud got up, expressing his gratitude for the personal magic show before he left to go check on their baby sister.

 **"Dang it!"** Luan raged.

"Can I take this off now?" Lucy requested. She saw no reason to continue wearing it now that their plan had been blown apart at the end. The two had tried their hardest as well, and were both disappointed in themselves that it botched.

"Go ahead… and I risked my teeth for that too," Luan got her radio out, "Plan F worked too well again. Good luck, you two. Plan G is the last in our résumé."

Luan chucked her top hat aside with the wand before beginning to leave.

"Where are you going?" Lucy chirped, while trying to get out of her own costume.

"To call mom and to tell her to make me a dentist appointment!"

* * *

Lincoln arrived back in the young kids' rooms. Lisa was still preoccupied with Lana. He went right to, Lily who still was crying with the radio beside her. He sighed, picking her up and taking her out of her crib. He knew she had hurt her growing teeth again.

"Is she alright?" Lisa asked. Lincoln shook his head, cradling Lily in his arms. Countless nights the family were awoken to this familiar crying. Whoever responded to her first tended to be random.

"Can I have an ice pack or something… ?" Lana moaned. That gave their only brother a bright idea. Lisa already left to fetch the ice pack. Lincoln followed behind her to go to the kitchen, an idea in mind on how to help ease his littlest sister's pain.

* * *

Lily now was in her high chair, but had not quieted down much. Lincoln spent the last ten minutes trying to ease the pain, but it was taking a short time for him to get what he needed ready to use for his idea. He rubbed his baby sister's head.

 _"It's probably been long enough now,"_ he was trying his best to keep track in his head. He went over to the refrigerator and opened the freezer. He reached inside and pulled out a half frozen orange slice he had prepared, bringing it over to the infant.

"Arbuu?" Lily sniffled when Lincoln offered her the orange. He let her take it and she began gnawing on it like she would with any of her other teething toys. In mere seconds the cold fruit began to soothe her aching gums.

Lincoln let out a breath of relief, glad to see Lily happy once again. Even if it had barely been fifteen minutes it felt like an eternity. Somehow a baby's cries really were one of the most heart wrenching sounds the world could offer.

"Oh, Lincy, there you are! I've been looking all over for you!" Leni's voice rang out as she came into the kitchen. Lincoln turned around, giving a gentle wave.

" _Aww…_ you didn't tell me you were making snacks," the fashion lover muttered upon seeing Lily sucking on the orange slice. Lincoln shook his head, insisting that it was a special occasion. He let their baby sister out of her high chair and let her gently down on the floor.

"Well, I hate to bother you," Leni paused, before finding the right words, "But Luna needs some help with her equipment. It's acting really weird and I'm not too good with that stuff… Lisa's busy too."

Lincoln was confused. He didn't count how many times he was called for help now, but was finding it slightly ridiculous. But he nodded, agreeing to come help. He had handled aiding with Luna's equipment hundreds of times by now since he was young, and there were times when he was useful or not. The preteen boy followed his sister off to the garage, despite the protests of his aching legs.

* * *

"Oh hey bro. I figured Leni would go asking you to help," Luna greeted the two upon seeing them enter the garage. She was only using the garage since there was plenty of space after their parents had taken Vanzilla to the mechanic's. The garage door was shut as well.

Lincoln already felt overwhelmed. The various guitars, amplifiers and the microphone lay on the floor. The many wires were tangled about, all strewn about the garage, and the rock lover's laptop was also on the workbench to the side. Their parents were definitely not going to be happy about it.

"So what's the matter with it?" Leni asked, strumming at Luna's favorite guitars strings. She squeaked when her hand was smacked, forcing her to stop. The aspiring rock star shook her head, motioning her to not touch anything. Lincoln was starting with what he had been taught to do during the many repair attempts and check the wires first.

"I wouldn't have a foggy idea. Everything was going fine but then it all started freaking out… Anything my computer recorded came out sounding **_WAY_** different than it should've," Luna explained, doing her best to feign sounding distraught. The two's plan was to try and trick Lincoln into speaking by doing a few microphone checks with purposefully sabotaged equipment.

" _H-huh?_ Oh, you found a problem?" Leni noticed an excited look on their brother as he picked up a wire that was tied in a tightened knot. It was perhaps messing things up with at least one of the equipment pieces. Sadly it would need replacing. Lincoln knew Luna had spare replacements, which was enough to have it covered.

"Wow, that's a great eye you got, Linc. I didn't even pay attention to that," Luna complimented him. He nodded, going over to try and find a replacement plug in cable.

" _Luna, he's figuring things out… **!**_ " Leni fearfully whispered. Her sister patted her back.

" _Relax. There's a dozen problems. There's no way he can fix'em all. We both know that,_ " Luna reassured. The two watched him work on from there, pretending to try and be of help while leaving him to the majority of it.

* * *

 _"Is it working, Luna?"_

 _"Do you hear him talking, Leni?"_

 _"I don't think so…?"_

 _"There's your answer then."_

 _"Do we have anything else broken…?"_

 _"No, Leni… He's fixed my stuff for me so much that he's become better at it than even I am now."_

Luna and Leni whispered back and forth, staring in awe as Lincoln repaired one thing at a time without even needing to touch the microphone. So far it had been simply disconnections or damages that needed repairing or the simple knob switch or lever that would do nothing, despite how it looked.

"W-wow, Lincoln… you really saved me when I was in a pinch… I can't think of what to say. All I can say is thanks, little bro," Luna put on her best expression of joy. They had spent almost an hour of sabotaging her own equipment, and the trick failed. She regretted not simply damaging the microphone itself instead of its wire when she wanted him to test it.

"I wouldn't even have the slightest idea how to do that!" Leni added, not so much acting as much as forgetting that they caused it. Lincoln gave a thumbs up before bringing over his older sister's favorite acoustic guitar and handing it to her. He then left to go check up on Lily.

" _…Do we have any more plans?_ " the fashion lover meekly asked, after some more awkward silence. Luna gripped her guitar so tight that it cracked the shaft.

" _No…_ **WE WERE THE LAST PLAN!** " Luna dunked the guitar on the floor. Leni was stunned by the sight of it breaking and flying into a million pieces. She guessed that they should have grabbed Luna's favorite electric guitar, she knew Luna would have refused to break anything with Mick Swaggers autograph on it.

"L-Luna calm down, please!" Leni nervously begged, aware of the overwhelming stress and worry about their brother being mad at them all. She pulled out their radio.

"The last plan didn't work, sorry everyone… I guess meet up in the same place," Leni dropped the radio after that before going to help Luna calm down.

* * *

For the third time today, the sisters were gathered in the younger children's rooms. Lola was now awake and Lori seemed like an emotional mess after she heard that none of their plans worked. Everyone was hurt by the outcome of their failed efforts.

"Saiubraruh?" Lily cooed, crawling over to Luan whose head rested on her hand. Luan gave a small smile, pulling out a pacifier and putting it in their baby sister's mouth before picking her up.

"I'm sorry Lily… we're not upset… just sad," Luan explained, aware that the youngest Loud sibling was curious to the atmosphere of the room. They did not even plan to fetch her for this third meeting, but she happened to be in here by coincidence.

"So nobody got any result? Nothing? Not even a squeak?" Lana asked, unable to hide the desperation in her tone.

"He didn't even laugh at the magic show… guess flipping a coin to decide between comedy and magic was a bad idea," Luan sighed. She regretted not just going for her natural style instead.

"I wore those ridiculous clothes for nothing," Lucy groaned, not wanting to remember it. She swore she could still feel the tightness of the magician's assistant outfit against her skin, despite being back in her normal attire.

"He never picked up that microphone because there wasn't a need to," Luna nodded while Lisa was helping treat her hands. The rock star had lodged quite a good number of splinters into the palms of her hands after crushing that acoustic guitar with her bare hands.

"Lincy just kept smiling and working without saying a single thing," Leni sniffled. Whether or not Lincoln was focused on working hard to fix the music equipment, the silent treatment upset them.

"He hasn't even been doing that weird monologue thingy he does randomly…" Lori muttered. Sometimes they would catch him talking to himself. They assumed it was either an imaginary friend or a way to ward off boredom, or perhaps both, but Lisa assured he was still sane.

"If anything, he seems to only express more concern for us gradually the more we did. With each plan we executed, he kept his cheerful demeanor throughout them all evidently," Lisa elaborated on her views of things. Their brother faking happiness could still be an option, but it was far from on the table at this point.

"What do we do then…?" Lynn wondered aloud. Her entire body feeling the chilling depression. If all their plans failed, it proved they had wronged Lincoln badly to earn his silence. Every last one of them.

"There isn't anything left we can do. He'll get suspicious at any other plans we have," Lola commented. Their massive streak of plans seemed perfectly natural, especially for the Loud house, but not if it was more than Lincoln could predict.

"We have to do something. If we ignore it then it'll just get worse!" Luna argued. Their parents weren't going to be of any use. The aspiring rock star knew they had no experience with complete silence, and they did not want Lincoln to receive unneeded punishment just for not wanting to speak. It would simply do nothing more but make things worse for them.

"What if the opposite happens? It could get better if we ignore it…" Leni wondered aloud, thinking returning to normality and hoping for the best was a better course of action. There was another long pause of silence as everyone absorbed the disheartening atmosphere.

"Should we have a vote on what to do next?" Lucy suggested.

" _What's the point?_ " the eldest Loud solemnly shook her head, "We'll just say yes to doing anything if it can get him to talk again."

"Well, we're not completely out of plans," Lynn said. Lana and Lola looked to her in worry at Lynn's idea.

"The emergency plan…? _I don't know…_ I'm scared it'll backfire," Luan confessed. They would always use it and hope for it to work, no matter how bad the situation was. Lily cooed in agreement, even if she was not sure what was going on.

"All the other plans failed and we've already nearly killed each other in one fight… Should we just go for it?" Lola begrudgingly agreed to this. Everyone seemed uncaring if the plan was at risk of backfiring or not.

"We've tried everything, and nothing worked. he's definitely upset with us all," Luna reminded them. She was as tore up about this as they were. she waited for everyone to give their thoughts.

"It's perfectly harmless, so I suppose there's no reason to **_NOT_** use it…" Lisa cleaned off her glasses, "Frankly it might be the most effective means to change this."

"Well let's do it then!"

"What do we do if this doesn't work? What if it makes him hate us more?!"

"I don't think he hates us. I think he's just mad with us…"

"Better to try and fail at something than to do nothing at all."

"I'm scared of the outcome…"

"There's nothing to _'fear'_ other than ourselves and our little brother's reaction… and maybe spiders."

"Just be honest and it'll go fine."

"I don't think I can do it. I'm too scared…"

"Me neither…!"

"Just get up and go! All of you! Now!"

* * *

The Loud sisters all made their way downstairs. They had left Lily back in her crib so she would not get in the way by accident. They found Lincoln in the living room, looking over his laptop. He was able to tell with ease that he was being spied on, like an extra sense his body had developed. He sighed and closed the laptop, slightly bothered by how much they had been needing his help with various things today.

"Uh… Lincoln can we talk?" Leni requested. Lincoln nodded, letting them all come around. He wondered what could be going wrong now that they all were grouped up like this. It rarely meant good things when the Loud house was quiet, but that did not mean it was any better when it was as noisy.

Lincoln waited, wanting them to answer now. He was tired from the long day today, and he was just looking forward to dinner, whenever they decided on what to have.

"We just wanted to say… _well…_ " Lori fumbled with her words. She like the other sisters was unsure what to say. Lincoln was suddenly startled when they all began mobbing him to hug him tight.

 _ **"We're sorry!"**_

"Please stop with the silent stuff! We're sorry for all we've done to you!"

"We feel terrible! Really!"

"Having no verbal acknowledgement is quite intolerable… I understand if you hate us for how we treated you."

"Please talk! It's not the same without you!"

"I know it's all my fault for shoving you down the steps!"

"No, it's my fault!"

 **"Mine!"**

 _"Mine!"_

 **"Mine!"**

 _"Mine!"_

 **"WHAT ARE YOU ALL TALKING ABOUT?!"** a hoarse, strained voice scared them all into breaking the air suffocating grip they had on him. Lincoln groaned, holding his sore throat after saying that.

"H-he talked…!" Lori let out an audible sigh of relief.

"Bro! It's good to hear you again!" Luna resumed the hug.

"Why do you sound like that?" Luan asked worriedly.

"I asked you all something first," Lincoln coughed, rubbing his sore throat upon realizing what was going on. Lisa began to feel quite embarrassed.

"We thought you weren't talking to us because we had done something wrong to you…" Lucy explained.

" _…oh…_ well no, it wasn't any of you. It wouldn't be our home if something wasn't happening to me at least once a day," Lincoln breathed. He didn't like what happened last week, but had grown used to it a long time ago and given up fighting against it.

"It was actually something else…"

"What was it then? You could've just said something to us…!" Lana requested. Their brother scratched his head.

"Sorry, I had no idea you were so worked up about me not talking. I tore my throat apart doing… actually, I can just show you, I think," Lincoln did his best to answer, coming up with an idea while getting out his cellphone.

 _"Hey, Clyde, Ronnie Anne, are there any videos online from the other day?"_ he texted the two.

 _"Lame-o, there's like twenty up and at least two are trending,"_ Ronnie Anne replied.

 _"You can't miss them. Just pull up the website. You know what to look for,"_ Clyde replied. Lincoln shrugged, getting his laptop and letting his sisters surround him to see what he was going to show them.

It took a short while for him to get his computer started back up again. He began to browse for the specific video he was looking for.

"For the last week at school one of the… *Cough! Hack!* Agh… sorry… it hurts to speak…" Lincoln rubbed his throat, trying to get himself to get through one sentence without going into a coughing fit, "The most lovey dovey trio in our school with music everyone loved started falling apart."

"A love trio…? That's a weird band name," Luna said, but was nudged at the side by Lori. She bumped back harder with her elbow to put her eldest sister in her place. Things were somewhat cramped for the rock lover.

"I don't think that's their bands name," Lucy commented. Not that she would know. Only Lynn went to the same school as Lincoln still due to being held back a year.

"Lucy's right… *Hack!* They're known as that because the one girl has two boyfriends. All of them like to put their love into music and share it with everyone," Lincoln finished. Not willing to hear his sisters' opinions about it. It made him cringe that a boy with two girls would be praised or judged, and yet a girl with two boys would simply be shamed. It never made sense to him. Not one bit. Instead he just saw those kinds of people as human beings like he was.

"Twice the love sounds pretty nice."

"Is that like how Clyde's parents are, but if he had a mom?"

"Talk about a love _'triangle'_."

"I don't think I'd be able to take care of two boyfriends. It sounds like too much to handle!"

"Learn to handle a sock puppet first."

"Why'd they start to fall apart?" Lori asked. Their brother found the video, opened it up and let it begin loading.

"One of them had to move, the other two really took it hard. Those three were perfect as a team… *Cough, hack!* Re kept the other two happy. M really could not rest if music could be made, and I-X always ran around trying to get sound samples," Lincoln explained. Though uncaring for their music names, they were more known by those names in school, so it only made sense to call them that, even if it was obvious what their names meant that it hurt.

"So what does this have to do with you?" Lynn requested, not sure how someone else's love triangle relationship mattered to their brother, though after saying that, the many girls looked to him in a little bit of worry with the same thoughts in their minds forming.

"No… *Cough!* I'd rather not get in on that stuff. I already have enough issues in my lack of a romantic life…" Lincoln retorted to try and defuse any assumptions that he wanted to join in on this love pyramid, but he had to continue pretending that he had no relationship. It saddened his sisters to hear him talk so poorly about himself like this, since they remembered their attempts to help his love life failed spectacularly.

"It seemed like the only way to help cheer them up was with more music… so- *Cough, cough* …I decided to fill for M at the talent show," he wheezed. He had no desire to enter the talent show, and thus he kept quiet about it. He had no talent as far as he knew, beyond keeping his family from murdering one another. But he knew his school would not be the same without that music those three brought. He had decided to help them to the best of his ability for that reason.

"I have no idea if what I did worked, but… *Cough!* Well, I seemed to make them happy. That's all I really wanted to do," Lincoln sighed, trying his best to fight through his strained voice, no matter how much it hurt. He felt bad for unintentionally messing with his family like this.

"You're getting involved with music, eh? Sounds like the type of job you'd take… but what did M do for the group that you had to fill in for?" Luna asked. She and the rest of the family were planning on what to do to try and help his sore throat after this.

"The… _lead singer,_ " Lincoln murmured, feeling slightly embarrassed from just recalling the stage live show. He did not do well in front of large crowds of people. He barely knew the difference between the main eye of attention and an assistant. "J…just watch the video."

Another cough and the video began to play when he hit the spacebar

* * *

The video began to show someone in a crowd trying to get a higher view by using their friend as a booster. Once the camera steadied it showed two people on a stage before the majority of the school.

"Before we start, we want to say we're sorry for M and his sudden departure… It really never will be the same without his voice," a black-haired young girl explained. Her pigtails had blue streaks running through each of them. She held a hybrid of an electric guitar and a portable record table, an instrument of a freelance DJ normally.

"We don't know if we're going to be performing anymore after this, but someone insisted we give one last show," the young boy with blonde hair slicked back. A set of drums and a microphone rested in front of him, "I'm Re!"

"I'm I-x!" the female guitarist added. Their lead singer then stepped out of the side of the stage, carrying his microphone.

"And I'm Lincoln," the preteen tried to fight off his hesitation and urge to have an anxiety attack. The audience clapped, welcoming M's substitute. It seemed they had a lot of respect for the musical trio turned duo enough to give the middle Loud a chance to shine, since the other two trusted him.

"Go on, Loud, shake that stage fright and announce the song," I-x insisted as if getting some mileage out of seeing her sheepish schoolmate.

" _R-right…_ " Lincoln quietly agreed. He had practiced to the best of his ability for this. There was no going back now. "Our new song… or their new song… is called, Build-Back."

The tone of his voice showed how confused he was by the name. He learned from Luna that the names of songs meant little significance for the tone of song and its lyrics.

"Ready! Three, two, three, two, one!" Re grinned, beginning to tap his drumsticks along the rim. I-x began to slowly scratch away at her guitar record table hybrid, beginning to pick up a fast tempo.

" _The nights blazing heat that's overwhelming the sun's cool appraising heartbeat,_ " Lincoln followed along to the slowly increasing tempo, trying to imagine himself in a simpler, less pressuring area.

" _Day by day every step of the way, it all builds up waiting for you to stake your rep and whatever it takes to fight the nightmares overwhelming crushing might!_ " He let the backup singer follow up after.

 **(Build it! Build it back up to its glory!)**

" _Whatever happens, no matter what you find, keep running ahead, but don't ever leave the past behind! The rubble of life is easy to reshape with each piece chiseled with your soul's knife!_ "

 **(Don't run! Keep cuttin' an' cuttin' til it's in your image!)**

" _The new, the old, the few and the bold, the kingdom you want to build back up will always be ready and waiting for your steady hand to guide it along!_ "

 **(The gates never close! This kingdom's one of the many the worlds got to offah!)**

" _Right on the right moment, no matter how many times you have to fight, don't let that kingdom in your heart succumb to the bleak black darkness! Instead build it back!_ "

 **(Build-Back! Bui-build it back! Build-Back!)**

" _Don't cry! Every wall that may fall reveals a new sun to dry those eyes and meet more of the world! Bring the new to the old! Let them fold to your land you shaped by your own hands!_ "

 **(Build back! Build back! Build back!)**

When the song began to rev back down to just its instrumentals, Lincoln lowered his microphone tiredly, looking exasperated in the video. When the whole song ended, the audience began clapping. The performance touched their souls like the original trios own works did.

While Re and I-x absorbed the praise like the morning sun, Lincoln headed back off to leave the stage, not able to stay in the spotlight for any longer.

* * *

With the video over, the Loud boy looked to his sisters. They were all enraptured in what they had seen. He waited for them to speak, mainly to avoid hurting his throat further.

"Four million views and rising… Wow…"

"You really sounded so… passionate! It was beautiful, Lincy!"

"It was beautiful… I need you to help me with my poems more."

"I didn't even think you could hit a low note at all! You seemed like a 'high pitcher' to me!"

" _Ahhh!_ You're going to be my prince forever and ever!"

"I don't care if there is dried mud in my ears or that I have a concussion! This is amazing!"

"Fascinating… I don't even have much experience with the genre that music belonged to… It was like rock combined with rap."

"Guess all that singing with me really helped, huh, little bro?"

Lincoln could feel his own sheepishness kicking in again with all attention on him. It was a little more tolerable because he was used to it with his family.

"Thanks everyone… really… But… *cough, hack!* …practicing it so much and then giving it my all on stage killed my throat really bad. The nurse thinks it'll be a week, if I'm lucky, before I can talk without it hurting as much," Lincoln explained. He had given it his all every step of the way since knew it was a couple's happiness and passion for what they loved on the line. His school mates deserved the help for all they brought to his school as far as he cared.

"Well don't worry. We'll take care of you," Lori hummed, patting his head. Their brother gulped, aware that they tended to be overbearing when helping him, but he appreciated it.

"I'll go make some warm tea!"

"I think one of my protein drinks'll help more… But heated up a lot!"

"Maybe this is a good excuse to make you a scarf before fall. I'll get started on it right away!"

"Maybe some chicken soup'll help?"

"You deserve a trophy for that performance!"

"You really are a big man with that strong voice."

"I'll help you get to bed so you can rest!"

"No, I will!"

"No, me!"

" _Me!_ "

" **Me!** "

" _Me!_ "

" **Me!** "

Midway through the discussions on what the family would do to their brother to help him, they heard the sound of the doorbell. Lynn hopped up to go check on who it was since they were not expecting any visitors today.

"Oh! _Uhh…_ Lincoln, it's for you," the sports lover called out. Lincoln, confused, forced his way past his many sisters, despite their claims that they could handle it while he rested. He could survive five extra minutes without help.

"Re? I-X?" Lincoln saw the two familiar people standing on the porch. The music couple could see the many Loud sisters trying to spy on it very poorly through the side windows, but those two ignored them.

"Hey there, hero. You holding up alright?" I-x asked. On her back was her trusted hybrid instrument, but she seemed to have no intent on playing it.

"We looked everywhere for you after the show, but you vanished!" Re exclaimed.

"Sorry… I *Cough!* had to go to the nurse's office… I really messed up my throat doing that show," Lincoln stated. The two put themselves at fault for it, as he had torn his throat out trying to help them.

"Sorry about that…" the black haired girl spoke, "We know you were trying to cheer us up since M left for New Hampshire. It was pretty obvious to us both."

"We kinda figured you were trying to get some personal music out of us, but then you started practicing and somehow made us agree to performing, I gotta say you are really bronze tongued." Re confessed without hesitation. They had been skeptical until Lincoln showed his vocal capabilities to them.

"You guys brightened up everyone in school with your music… *Cough!* Even if you were practicing everyone loved to hear you all play… I figured I could pay you back a little on everyone's behalf," the Loud boy responded, claiming to be proud to have helped. The two looked happy as well to have things back to a bright atmosphere. "*cough, hack* I'm just glad to see you guys back together and getting along again."

" _Uhh…_ " I-x hesitated. The two music lovers grew sad expressions. "Well… no… we're not together anymore. But we are getting along."

"Huh…?" Lincoln quirked an eyebrow, surprised.

"Hahahah! Yes, indeed. We're no longer romantically involved. Yet somehow that's made our flames for music burn brighter than a forest full a' fireflies!" Re assured that they had no more bad blood between them, but they had given up on the relationship. The two knew that their three way relationship was weird since the start. M's leaving signified that as a sign to give up on it and start a new with each other.

"Well… I'm glad I was able to help at least," Lincoln tried to brush that aside. Failing to save the two's romantic part of their relationship could be ignored, and he could continue telling himself that he had done everything else successfully.

"So you did… you really are our hero. So to show our thanks, we brought you some gifts," I-x reached behind her, pulling her guitar DJ table off her back and holding it out to him. Re pulled his drumsticks out from his back pocket, offering them too.

" **Huh?!** *Cough!* *hack* *cough!* You… *Cough!* …want me to take… *hack* …your instruments? I can't do that!" The shock of the gifts had accidentally startled Lincoln into a violent coughing fit.

"Ah… modesty… a true hero indeed!" Re said in his weirdly over energetic tone, "No, we're not giving you our instruments."

"We're giving you pieces of us to remember us by. We can make or get more. We're going to need to upgrade for all our plans anyway," I-x shoved the guitar mix table into Lincoln's hands. The drummer dropped his drumsticks on top of them.

"Be careful though! Those drumsticks are made from an elephant's tusk that grand-dad hunted fifteen years ago," Re warned him as if announcing the value of the items was only brought up to add onto Lincoln's attempt to refuse the gifts.

"We'll see you at school next week!" I-x hummed, "Enjoy your break, hero!"

"Hit us up if you're ever interested in tagging up again, you have a nice rest!" Re gave a wave as the two began to leave.

"Wa-wait! I can't t-take these! **_G-gack!_** " Lincoln tried to follow, but the guitar mix table was too wide to fit through the doorway for him to carry. It made him bounce back and land on the floor back first with the two important items landing on top of him. Lincoln groaned as he opened his eyes. He saw his many sisters standing above him.

"Don't worry, we got you bro!"

"Come on, you need to take it easy!"

"Just take the gifts and treasure them!"

"You're not stepping a foot outside until you're feeling better, Lincy!"

"Seriously! You were going to chase them down the street trying to call out to them with your throat that bad?! No way!"

"I guess you could say he's on the _'rebound'_."

Lincoln sighed, giving a smile as his family tried to help him up.

"Alright, you win… I'll let you take care of me," Lincoln finally agreed to take it easy and rest up. His sisters, all happy to hear his agreement, wasted no time getting him comfortable. " _The things I do for my family to make them happy… But the things they do for me is nice too._ " He thought.

"I got the soup ready!" Lola chimed, trying to bring it over but tripping on her long pageant dress, accidentally sending the bowl flying.

" ** _Gah! My feet!_** "

"O-oh no! Lincoln, I'm so sorry!"

"You need to wash that off before it burns!"

"Don't worry, we'll help you!"

"I can wash my- *Cough!* …my own feet… *hack, cough, cough!*"

"No need to thank us. We'll help wash everything while we're at it! Come on, I'll get the water ready."

" _Yep… just another day in the Loud house._ "

 _ **The end...**_

* * *

 **Authors Note: Right let me say I'm sorry if those song lyrics were trash, I'm not the best at making up music but I tried my hardest. I also hope you liked my first one shot, for a simple premise I gave it my all. This is Fallen Pens, dropping out, have a good one!**


End file.
